By way of background, conventional piles are well known in the construction industry for ground anchoring and forming foundations of structures and buildings. While all piles are generally driven into the ground for installation, an augered friction pile is rotatably driven into the ground until it reaches an installation depth for a particular application or loading. Friction piles traditionally include a hollow casing and a sacrificial tip secured to and closing off the terminal end thereof. The sacrificial tip, such as a sacrificial drill tip, facilitates advancement of the friction pile into the ground and remains in the ground attached to the friction pile even after installation.
Sacrificial tips operatively advance the friction pile into the ground much like a screw or auger. For example, a rotary drill, such as a track-mounted mobile ram with a drill head, operatively rotates the friction pile and, in turn, rotates the sacrificial tip against the ground. A typical sacrificial tip may include a generally conical body, a helical flight, and a plurality of teeth. As the sacrificial tip rotates, the teeth loosen and work the ground while the helical flight engages the ground to effectively pull the conical body deeper toward the installation depth. The conical body acts as a wedge to force surrounding ground away from the terminal end of the friction pile so that the friction pile may similarly advance into the ground. Once the installation depth is reached, the friction pile and sacrificial tip remain anchored in position by the compression caused by the surrounding ground.
However, in order for the sacrificial tip to survive installation, the conical body, helical flight, and plurality of teeth must be formed from a relatively strong, durable, hard, and malleable material, such as steel. Forming steel into the conical body requires a significant amount of time, skill, and material, thereby adding cost to the sacrificial tip. Furthermore, the teeth are relatively small and may be dislodged during installation. Moreover, imperfections created during the relatively complicated and expensive manufacturing process of the sacrificial tip may lead to one or more teeth being improperly attached, and can fail to perform properly. In either situation, the ground may not be effectively loosened, which, in turn, tends to create additional mechanical stress on the remainder of the sacrificial tip, friction pile, and rotary drill. This additional mechanical stress may effectively shorten the useful life of any one of the sacrificial tip, the friction pile, or the rotary drill.
There is a need for a sacrificial tip and method for effective installation of a friction pile that addresses issues such as those discussed above.